Half fill a cup with cornmeal and cover with milk. Leave to sit for a few minutes.

Pour approx 1C water into a pot and add the raisins, bay leaves and cinnamon. Cover and simmer for approximately 5-10 mins (longer is better for the flavor).

After 10 mins or after you can see some good colour in the water remove the cinnamon bark (and dry to reuse).

Add the cornmeal, stirring or whisking all the time as you add it to avoid lumps forming.

Bring it back up to boiling, then turn it down low to simmer for 5-7 minutes. Assess the consistency and add more milk to thin it if it needs. I prefer it more porridgy and thick, Joyous likes it thin enough to drink like a thick soup.

Stir in a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of butter (or butter substitute).

Serve with the stewed fruit and or brown sugar/coconut sugar/cream etc.

Babies and small children love this too.

For a real Lucian style breakfast serve it with ginger tea.

Make simple ginger tea by bashing a chunk of ginger root, bringing to the boil then simmering till the liquid changes colour. Stir in raw sugar (or don’t) and enjoy. (In this picture some of the ginger root was already used so we just added more, you’d usually use just one chunk.)

NB: If you live in NZ then try Fruit World for the cheapest cornmeal around. Way better than buying it as ‘polenta’ from the supermarket or a gourmet food store.